CMThttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/9385/all
enViacom Partners With Headphones Company to Promote Independent Musichttp://www.adweek.com/news/television/viacom-partners-headphones-company-promote-independent-music-150943
David Taintor<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/dna-headphones-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
For 12 hours on July 4, <a href="http://www.mtv.com/" target="_blank">MTV</a>, <a href="http://www.cmt.com/" target="_blank">CMT</a> and <a href="http://www.vh1.com/" target="_blank">VH1</a> are going to be all about music.</p>
<p>
The networks&#39; owner, Viacom, and the headphones company Monster DNA are teaming up to promote &quot;Music Independence Day,&quot; during which indie musicians will be featured on TV and the two companies will match online donations that viewers make to unsigned artists on a Web destination called the <a href="http://www.mtv.com/artists/" target="_blank">Artist Platform</a>.<br />
<br />
&quot;Hopefully that tip will allow them a start in their career,&quot; said Jeannie Scalzo, svp of brand sales for MTV, VH1 and CMT.</p>
<p>
Viacom and Monster DNA are pledging $100,000 in all to unsigned artists, with each act able to receive up to $500. &quot;We want to include as many artists as we can,&quot; Scalzo said. &quot;Spreading the wealth is the best way to make this successful for everybody.&quot;</p>
<p>
Each network will have a different focus&mdash;and feature different artists, independent and otherwise&mdash;throughout the 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. programming block. For MTV, the theme is block parties; for CMT, it&#39;s barbecue. In addition to the unsigned groups, viewers can expect to see the likes of Ke$ha, The Lumineers and Hanson, to name a few.</p>
<p>
The focus on music represents a return to the networks&#39; roots, said Scalzo. In fact, she claimed advertisers have been asking for opportunities to line up their brands with music.</p>
<p>
While July 4 is a fine holiday to pin a promotion to, it&#39;s perhaps not the best time to encourage viewers to plop down in front of the TV. (Grilling and swimming, for instance, are activities best enjoyed outdoors.)&nbsp;</p>
<p>
&quot;We had to find an opportunity where the theme would be right,&quot; explained Scalzo, adding that music will inevitably be a part of Independence Day celebrations.</p>
<p>
&quot;Our biggest goal for the day is to connect fans with the artists they love,&quot; she said.</p>
TelevisionCMTMTVVH1ViacomTue, 02 Jul 2013 13:00:02 +0000150943 at http://www.adweek.comYou Endure More Commercials When Watching Cable Networkshttp://www.adweek.com/news/television/you-endure-more-commercials-when-watching-cable-networks-150575
Sam Thielman<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/big-bang-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
Is the viewer in the bathroom during your prime-time ad? If that ad is on CMT, there&rsquo;s a good chance he is. If it runs on Bravo, she&rsquo;ll be more likely to stay put.</p>
<p>
Adweek has acquired a research report from a Nielsen subscriber examining 20 cable channels&rsquo; commercial loads in the first quarter of this year. The results: Some nets don&rsquo;t even fill 40 minutes of programming time per hour.</p>
<p>
Nielsen&rsquo;s most recent public &ldquo;clutter&rdquo; report, in 2006, pegged the average time for ads, PSAs and promos on cable at 15 minutes, one second. No network tracked in Q1 met that average even though many have pledged to cut down on clutter. Nielsen told Adweek that the average clutter time today is 13:32 on broadcast; 16:59 on cable (so the program time averages barely 43 minutes).</p>
<p>
&ldquo;[Ad time] gradually creeps upward, and we&rsquo;re not watching, especially with DVRs in 48, 50 percent of the country,&rdquo; said Brad Adgate, senior vp, research at Horizon Media (no one quoted here was the source of the report). &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re watching this on playback, you can certainly avoid the ads, and you can watch a one-hour show in 45 minutes.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
CMT and Spike were the worst offenders, with programming hours that clocked in at 38:41 and 39:52, respectively. That leaves enough room left over for a full episode of FX&rsquo;s Archer. CMT, Spike and VH1 all averaged 10 commercials per pod.</p>
<p>
As nets know they can&rsquo;t simply cram 30 ads into a break, the number of pods seems excessive enough to make even the staunchest cable viewer consider Netflix. Nets run as many as six pods of 10 ads each, the vast majority national ad time. A notable exception: MTV, with four of 19-plus minutes of commercial time devoted to promos. (Viacom declined to comment.)</p>
<p>
The Viacom networks came in with more ads per pod, more pods per hour and a shorter hour overall than their counterparts. On the less crowded end of the spectrum was NBCUniversal, and most consistent was Discovery. The flagship net, Animal Planet, OWN and TLC all came in at around 42 minutes. TBS&rsquo; programming hour, meanwhile, averaged 41:31.</p>
<p>
Other nets fell somewhere in the middle. USA had 42:28 of program time (five pods, nine ads each). There also wasn&rsquo;t much fat. Nearly 13 minutes an hour was pure national ad time, leaving less than five minutes for promos, locals and direct response.</p>
<p>
No network in the report had fewer than seven ads per pod.</p>
<p>
Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research said the data spoke to the power of the medium&mdash;especially the power to hold advertisers over a barrel: &ldquo;From an advertiser perspective, it&rsquo;s remarkable that it still works. No advertiser of note will depart the medium for risk of lost market share.&rdquo; Wieser also said clutter data suggested that there&rsquo;s more available inventory (and the ability to make even more) than networks let on.</p>
<p>
Brian Hughes, audience analysis practice lead at Magna Global, said he tracked clutter carefully. &ldquo;We definitely know it has an impact on attentiveness,&rdquo; he said.</p>
TelevisionBroadcastCableCableCMTDataSam ThielmanMagazine ContentNBCUniversalNetflixNetworksNewsNielsenSpike TVViacomMon, 24 Jun 2013 02:27:24 +0000150575 at http://www.adweek.comViacom Assembles Mobile Ad Sales Team for Music and Entertainmenthttp://www.adweek.com/news/television/viacom-assembles-mobile-ad-sales-team-music-and-entertainment-140923
Sam Thielman<p>
Viacom tapped the Weather Channel&#39;s Pete Chelala and its own Deborah Schlessinger-Brett (formerly director of new business for Nickeolodeon) to run its newly created mobile ad sales team for music and entertainment. Schlessinger-Brett will be replaced at Nick by Michael Hollis, who was upped from account manager to director, and will report to vp of new business Lauren Buerger. Chelala is now vp of mobile products and sales, with Schlessinger-Brett vp of mobile sales. &nbsp;</p>
<p>
Interestingly, the two will report to separate execs with the same title, with Chelala reporting to Melanie DiMemmo, and Schlessinger-Brett to Sarah Iooss&mdash;both svps of digital ad sales for music and entertainment.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
The new unit will work on selling both mobile-only and cross-platform advertising.&nbsp;It&#39;s a good time for Viacom to dig deeper into digital, as ratings at Nick <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/sick-nick-drag-viacom-ad-sales-140029" target="_blank">continue to drag its bottom line</a>. The company is also <a href="http://blog.viacom.com/2012/05/upfront-2012-reflecting-the-bilingualbicultural-latino-at-tr3s/" target="_blank">emphasizing its cred with Hispanic audiences</a> as it goes into the 2012-13 upfront season.</p>
<p>
&quot;Pete and Deb give us the combination of marketplace knowledge and product expertise to ensure we&#39;re connecting our clients to our consumers wherever they are, in the most impactful ways possible,&quot; Jeff Lucas, head of sales, Viacom Media Networks Music and Entertainment, said in an emailed statement.</p>
TelevisionCableCMTComedy CentralNickeolodeonVH1Sam ThielmanMon, 04 Jun 2012 21:35:18 +0000140923 at http://www.adweek.com